One of Britain's foremost astrobiologists offers an accessible and game-changing account of life on Earth. __________________ Why is all life based on carbon rather than silicon? And beyond Earth, would life - if it exists - look like our own? __________________ The puzzles of life astound and confuse us like no other mystery. But in this groundbreaking book, Professor Charles Cockell reveals how nature is far more understandable and predictable than we would think. Breathing new life into Darwin's theory of natural selection, The Equations of Life puts forward an elegant account of why evolution has taken the paths it has. In a captivating journey into the forces that shape living things on Earth, Cockell explains that the fundamental laws of physics constrain nature at every turn. Fusing the latest in scientific research with fascinating accounts of the creatures that surround us, this is a compelling argument about what life can - and can't - be.

A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2022: POLITICS Bi: The Hidden Culture, History and Science of Bisexuality explores all that we know about the world's largest sexual minority. It is a personal journey that starts with Dr Julia Shaw's own openly bisexual identity, and celebrates the resilience and beautiful diversity of the bi community. From the hunt for a bi gene, to the relationship between bisexuality and consensual non-monogamy, to asylum seekers who need to prove their bisexuality in a court of law, there is more to explore than most have ever realised.

**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER** Why do human beings behave as they do? 'Awe-inspiring... You will learn more about human nature than in any other book I can think of' Henry Marsh, bestselling author of And Finally. We are capable of savage acts of violence but also spectacular feats of kindness: is one side of our nature destined to win out over the other? Every act of human behaviour has multiple layers of causation, spiralling back seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years, even centuries, right back to the dawn of time and the origins of our species. In the epic sweep of history, how does our biology affect the arc of war and peace, justice and persecution? How have our brains evolved alongside our cultures? This is the exhilarating story of human morality and the science underpinning the biggest question of all: what makes us human? 'One of the best scientist-writers of our time' Oliver Sacks

This book is about a famous Hungarian mathematics competition that was founded in 1894, and thus, the oldest mathematics competition for secondary school students organized on a national scale. This book is based on Volumes III and IV of the Hungarian work by Janos Suranyi, covering the years from 1964 to 1997.Hungary, along with Russia, has a well-deserved reputation for proposing important, instructive, and interesting problems. Here, the reader will find a treasure trove of over 100 of them. The solutions are written carefully, giving all the details, and keeping in mind at all times the overall logical structures of the arguments.An outstanding feature of this book is Part II: Discussion. Here, the problems are divided by topics into six groups. It contains a discussion of the topic in general, followed by the basic results, that precedes the discussions of the individual problems. When a student encounters some difficulty in a problem, this part of the book can be consulted without revealing the complete solution. As an alternative, a student can also start with this part to familiarize with the general topic before attempting any problems. Finally, almost 400 additional problems from the legendary KoeMaL (Secondary School Mathematics and Physics Journal) takes the student to mathematical topics beyond competitions.

In China, lots of excellent maths students take an active part in various maths contests and the best six senior high school students will be selected to form the IMO National Team to compete in the International Mathematical Olympiad. In the past ten years China's IMO Team has achieved outstanding results - they won the first place almost every year.The authors of this book are coaches of the China national team. They are Xiong Bin, Yao Yijun, Qu Zhenhua et al. Those who took part in the translation work are Zhao Wei and Zhou Tianyou.The materials of this book come from a series of two books (in Chinese) on Forward to IMO: A Collection of Mathematical Olympiad Problems (2019-2020). It is a collection of problems and solutions of the major mathematical competitions in China. It provides a glimpse of how the China national team is selected and formed.

This book is about a famous Hungarian mathematics competition that was founded in 1894, and thus, the oldest mathematics competition for secondary school students organized on a national scale. This book is based on Volumes III and IV of the Hungarian work by Janos Suranyi, covering the years from 1964 to 1997.Hungary, along with Russia, has a well-deserved reputation for proposing important, instructive, and interesting problems. Here, the reader will find a treasure trove of over 100 of them. The solutions are written carefully, giving all the details, and keeping in mind at all times the overall logical structures of the arguments.An outstanding feature of this book is Part II: Discussion. Here, the problems are divided by topics into six groups. It contains a discussion of the topic in general, followed by the basic results, that precedes the discussions of the individual problems. When a student encounters some difficulty in a problem, this part of the book can be consulted without revealing the complete solution. As an alternative, a student can also start with this part to familiarize with the general topic before attempting any problems. Finally, almost 400 additional problems from the legendary KoeMaL (Secondary School Mathematics and Physics Journal) takes the student to mathematical topics beyond competitions.

In China, lots of excellent maths students take an active part in various maths contests and the best six senior high school students will be selected to form the IMO National Team to compete in the International Mathematical Olympiad. In the past ten years China's IMO Team has achieved outstanding results - they won the first place almost every year.The authors of this book are coaches of the China national team. They are Xiong Bin, Yao Yijun, Qu Zhenhua et al. Those who took part in the translation work are Zhao Wei and Zhou Tianyou.The materials of this book come from a series of two books (in Chinese) on Forward to IMO: A Collection of Mathematical Olympiad Problems (2019-2020). It is a collection of problems and solutions of the major mathematical competitions in China. It provides a glimpse of how the China national team is selected and formed.

In China, lots of excellent maths students take an active part in various maths contests and the best six senior high school students will be selected to form the IMO National Team to compete in the International Mathematical Olympiad. In the past ten years China's IMO Team has achieved outstanding results - they won the first place almost every year.The authors of this book are coaches of the China national team. They are Xiong Bin, Yao Yijun, Qu Zhenhua, et al. Those who took part in the translation work are Wang Shanping and Chen Haoran.The materials of this book come from a series of two books (in Chinese) on Forward to IMO: A Collection of Mathematical Olympiad Problems (2017-2018). It is a collection of problems and solutions of the major mathematical competitions in China. It provides a glimpse of how the China national team is selected and formed.

In China, lots of excellent maths students take an active part in various maths contests and the best six senior high school students will be selected to form the IMO National Team to compete in the International Mathematical Olympiad. In the past ten years China's IMO Team has achieved outstanding results - they won the first place almost every year.The authors of this book are coaches of the China national team. They are Xiong Bin, Yao Yijun, Qu Zhenhua, et al. Those who took part in the translation work are Wang Shanping and Chen Haoran.The materials of this book come from a series of two books (in Chinese) on Forward to IMO: A Collection of Mathematical Olympiad Problems (2017-2018). It is a collection of problems and solutions of the major mathematical competitions in China. It provides a glimpse of how the China national team is selected and formed.

Seduction is not just an end result, but a process - and in mathematics, both the end results and the process by which those end results are achieved are often charming and elegant.This helps to explain why so many people - not just those for whom math plays a key role in their day-to-day lives - have found mathematics so seductive. Math is unique among all subjects in that it contains end results of amazing insight and power, and lines of reasoning that are clever, charming, and elegant. This book is a collection of those results and lines of reasoning that make us say, 'OMG, that's just amazing,' - because that's what mathematics is to those who love it. In addition, some of the stories about mathematical discoveries and the people who discovered them are every bit as fascinating as the discoveries themselves.This book contains material capable of being appreciated by students in elementary school - as well as some material that will probably be new to even the more mathematically sophisticated. Most of the book can be easily understood by those whose only math courses are algebra and geometry, and who may have missed the magic, enchantment, and wonder that is the special province of mathematics.

Seduction is not just an end result, but a process - and in mathematics, both the end results and the process by which those end results are achieved are often charming and elegant.This helps to explain why so many people - not just those for whom math plays a key role in their day-to-day lives - have found mathematics so seductive. Math is unique among all subjects in that it contains end results of amazing insight and power, and lines of reasoning that are clever, charming, and elegant. This book is a collection of those results and lines of reasoning that make us say, 'OMG, that's just amazing,' - because that's what mathematics is to those who love it. In addition, some of the stories about mathematical discoveries and the people who discovered them are every bit as fascinating as the discoveries themselves.This book contains material capable of being appreciated by students in elementary school - as well as some material that will probably be new to even the more mathematically sophisticated. Most of the book can be easily understood by those whose only math courses are algebra and geometry, and who may have missed the magic, enchantment, and wonder that is the special province of mathematics.

Making Sense of the Senses provides an easily understandable and engaging overview of the senses. The book allows readers insights into how humans and other animals perceive the world, reflecting a level of knowledge similar to that acquired by studying neuroscience at an undergraduate level. In order to offer an accessible introduction to the science, it uses relatable examples to uncover the history, evolution, and biological principles of the way we see, smell, hear, taste, touch and more.Rather than only focusing on the five primary senses you can see on the cover, Making Sense of the Senses dives deep into the various methods through which life across the planet surveys the world, and guides the reader through the lesser-known methods through which we humans interpret our surroundings. In this way, we come across some amazing abilities that we often forget we possess.Humans are nevertheless rather average creatures compared to many sensory specialists. So when we compare our relatively modest capabilities to those of other species across the animal kingdom, we are forced to yield our anthropocentric sense of supremacy. This book will introduce how biological life developed the capacity to detect magnetic fields, radioactivity, and many more phenomena that until recently were inaccessible to humans.By contextualising and comparing how the senses operate, this book covers the sensory systems in a way no popular science book has previously done. If you are starting your career in neuroscience, or simply want to learn more about the ways our biology guides us through life, Making Sense of the Senses will change the way you think about our perception of the world.

The main task of the initial period of studying physics is inculcating the interest and enthusiasm of children in this subject. The root cause of all interest is surprise, and for children there is almost nothing more surprising than a new and unusual toy. There is a whole class of toys with unusual mechanisms, behaviour, or way of interacting with them. Having explained to the child the not quite ordinary, and often paradoxical, properties of such toys, we can gradually instil in him an interest in physics as one of the most important sciences about the nature of the surrounding world. The main purpose of the book is to arouse interest in the study of physics with the help of toys that everyone has loved since childhood.The book contains descriptions of the toys in which, with the help of explanations of the devices and principles of operation, the basic physical laws are revealed, together with perspectives of phenomena and patterns, practical significance, as well as historical information. The individual descriptions contain the minimum necessary mathematical calculations as well as information of environmental, statistical, and household orientations. All toys are systematized according to 4 chapters: Mechanics, Liquids and Gases, Electricity, and Optics.To a large extent, self-production of simple scientific toys can increase interest and enthusiasm in the process of teaching physics. To this end, the fifth chapter provides step-by-step instructions for making 14 such homemade toys from the most affordable materials using the simplest tools. The participation of teachers or parents in the process of making these toys by young children will undoubtedly provide positive emotions and establish trusting relationships.

Few scientists are as recognizable as Stephen Hawking. Despite having Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease)--an affliction that many experts expected to have killed him decades ago--Hawking remains a vital and influential voice in the scientific community. One of the leading cosmologists studying the celestial phenomenon known as black holes, Hawking has also led the way in popularizing science with his best-selling work A Brief History of Time. This biography of Hawking, written by a physicist, provides an accessible introduction to the life and work of an inspirational figure. Stephen Hawking: A Biography provides an overview of the life and work of this brilliant scientist that can be read and appreciated by students and lay people alike. The author examines many aspects of his fascinating career: DT Hawking's childhood and early education, and the shocking diagnosis of his disease. DT His early scientific work on black holes that cemented his reputation as a scientist. DT How Hawking managed to remain a productive scientist and scholar despite having a debilitating illness. DT The publication and success of the best-selling book A Brief History of Time, which changed the face of popular science publishing. The book includes a list of resources for further information, and a timeline of important events in the life of Hawking. Several appendices explain the details of Hawking's scientific work in more detail for those students seeking more information.

We grow up thinking there are five senses, but we forget about the ten neglected senses of the body that both enable and limit our experience. Embodied explores the psychology of physical sensation in ten chapters: balance, movement, pressure (acting in gravity), breathing, fatigue, pain, itch, temperature, appetite, and expulsion (the senses of physical matter leaving the body). For each sense, two people are interviewed who live with extreme experiences of the sense being investigated; their stories bring to life how far physical sensations matter to us and how much they define what is possible in our life. How physical sensation shapes behavior and how behavior is shaped by sensation are examined. A final chapter presents a theory of what is common across the ten senses: of how we deal with being urged to act, and what happens when extreme sensation is inescapable.

We are a restless, world-changing species. We are the only organism that combines a multitude of abilities to harness the rules of nature, continuously manipulating our environment, its resources and even our own bodies to fit our ever-changing needs and desires. What is it that enables us to share some 99 percent of DNA as well as some basic behaviors with other organisms, yet at the same time be so different and powerful?Coalescing understandings driven from biology, psychology, anthropology, history and more, Ben David addresses the above question using a new paradigm: The Gordian knot between five human traits - imagination, creative making, complex communication, change and intergenerational transfer - evolutionary developed and co-amplified as the ultra-complex system called Homo sapiens. Weaving personal stories with professional experience, Ben David narrates innovative definitions of technology, education, science and their co-dependence; emphasizes their roles in the development of human societies; deliberates their implications on everyday life; discusses the crucial role of science education; and offers a fresh look at who we are as the leading species on this planet.Dr Liat Ben David is the CEO of the Davidson Institute of Science Education, the educational arm of Israel's acclaimed Weizmann Institute of Science. She holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and has more than 30 years of experience in the field of STEM education. Ben David teaches regularly in various spheres, including academia and TEDx; she is an accomplished author who has published numerous articles and books.

We are a restless, world-changing species. We are the only organism that combines a multitude of abilities to harness the rules of nature, continuously manipulating our environment, its resources and even our own bodies to fit our ever-changing needs and desires. What is it that enables us to share some 99 percent of DNA as well as some basic behaviors with other organisms, yet at the same time be so different and powerful?Coalescing understandings driven from biology, psychology, anthropology, history and more, Ben David addresses the above question using a new paradigm: The Gordian knot between five human traits - imagination, creative making, complex communication, change and intergenerational transfer - evolutionary developed and co-amplified as the ultra-complex system called Homo sapiens. Weaving personal stories with professional experience, Ben David narrates innovative definitions of technology, education, science and their co-dependence; emphasizes their roles in the development of human societies; deliberates their implications on everyday life; discusses the crucial role of science education; and offers a fresh look at who we are as the leading species on this planet.Dr Liat Ben David is the CEO of the Davidson Institute of Science Education, the educational arm of Israel's acclaimed Weizmann Institute of Science. She holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and has more than 30 years of experience in the field of STEM education. Ben David teaches regularly in various spheres, including academia and TEDx; she is an accomplished author who has published numerous articles and books.

Shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize 2019 A magisterial history of calculus (and the people behind it) from one of the world's foremost mathematicians. This is the captivating story of mathematics' greatest ever idea: calculus. Without it, there would be no computers, no microwave ovens, no GPS, and no space travel. But before it gave modern man almost infinite powers, calculus was behind centuries of controversy, competition, and even death. Taking us on a thrilling journey through three millennia, professor Steven Strogatz charts the development of this seminal achievement from the days of Archimedes to today's breakthroughs in chaos theory and artificial intelligence. Filled with idiosyncratic characters from Pythagoras to Fourier, Infinite Powers is a compelling human drama that reveals the legacy of calculus on nearly every aspect of modern civilisation, including science, politics, medicine, philosophy, and much besides.

THE PERFECT GIFT FOR ALL BIBLIOMANIACS A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE TIMES, FINANCIAL TIMES, SPECTATOR AND DAILY MAIL A WATERSTONES BEST POPULAR SCIENCE BOOK 2022 Plunge into this rich and surprising A-Z compendium to discover how our fixations have taken shape, from the Middle Ages to the present day, as bestselling author Kate Summerscale deftly traces the threads between the past and present, the psychological and social, the personal and the political. 'Fascinating ... Phobias and manias create a magical space between us and the world' Malcolm Gaskill, author of the No. 1 bestseller The Ruin of All Witches 'Fascinating' Observer 'An endlessly intriguing book ... All the bibliomanes (book nutters) I know will love it' Daily Mail

Right now, you are orbiting a black hole. The Earth orbits the Sun, and the Sun orbits the centre of the Milky Way: a supermassive black hole, the strangest and most misunderstood phenomenon in the galaxy. In A Brief History of Black Holes, the award-winning University of Oxford researcher Dr Becky Smethurst charts five hundred years of scientific breakthroughs in astronomy and astrophysics. She takes us from the earliest observations of the universe and the collapse of massive stars, to the iconic first photographs of a black hole and her own published findings. A cosmic tale of discovery, Becky explains why black holes aren't really 'black', that you never ever want to be 'spaghettified', how black holes are more like sofa cushions than hoovers and why, beyond the event horizon, the future is a direction in space rather than in time. Told with humour and wisdom, this captivating book describes the secrets behind the most profound questions about our universe, all hidden inside black holes. 'A jaunt through space history . . . with charming wit and many pop-culture references' - BBC Sky At Night Magazine

Arthur Conan Doyle's enduringly popular Sherlock Holmes has his own undeniable place in the public eye. Holmes is often seen applying concepts of some branch of science in his work, discussing scientific matters with Watson, or is involved in situations where the applicability of the formal sciences is apparent. The Scientific Sherlock Holmes connects Holmes' vegetable poisons with concepts in botany, his use of fingerprinting with forensic science, and carbon monoxide poisoning and hemoglobin tests with concepts in chemistry, thus integrating the Holmes stories with all branches of science.

Professor Michael Edgeworth McIntyre is an eminent scientist who has also had a part-time career as a musician. From a lifetime's thinking, he offers this extraordinary synthesis exposing the deepest connections between science, music, and mathematics, while avoiding equations and technical jargon. He begins with perception psychology and the dichotomization instinct and then takes us through biological evolution, human language, and acausality illusions all the way to the climate crisis and the weaponization of the social media, and beyond that into the deepest parts of theoretical physics - demonstrating our unconscious mathematical abilities.He also has an important message of hope for the future. Contrary to popular belief, biological evolution has given us not only the nastiest, but also the most compassionate and cooperative parts of human nature. This insight comes from recognizing that biological evolution is more than a simple competition between selfish genes. Rather, he suggests, in some ways it is more like turbulent fluid flow, a complex process spanning a vast range of timescales.Professor McIntyre is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London (FRS) and has worked on problems as diverse as the Sun's magnetic interior, the Antarctic ozone hole, jet streams in the atmosphere, and the psychophysics of violin sound. He has long been interested in how different branches of science can better communicate with each other and with the public, harnessing aspects of neuroscience and psychology that point toward the deep 'lucidity principles' that underlie skilful communication.